Passwords
- Last modified: tor okt 17, 2019 12:12
- Sign: JN
- Tested on: Xubuntu 18.04
- Solved: No
As a user on the NRM Windows domain, your NRMUSERNAME is associated with a
password. NRM IT have rules and recommendations on how passwords should be
handled and designed (Naturhistoriska riksmuseet – IT-säkerhetspolicy).
Notably:
- You cannot change your password to the one before, or the one before that.
- A password is valid maximum 180 days (ca 6 months).
- You cannot change the password before 30 days have passed since you changed it.
- The password need to be at least six characters (letters and/or digits).
You may obviously have opinions on some of these points (https://xkcd.com/936/), but one thing that definitely affects Linux users is point 2.
A build-in feature of the setup of NRM AD is that members of the domain (i.e., MS Windows users) will receive a notice when they log in saying something in the lines of "Your password is soon to expire, please change.". This message does not reach Linux users working at NRM, contrary to what NRM IT have claimed. The result is that one day (180 after the previous...), you can suddenly not log in, not check your e-mail, etc. Previously, a Linux user had then to find a MS Windows computer that was inside the NRM firewall, and then change the password (when logging in).
Luckily, there is now an easy way, for all, not only Linux users, to change the password: Use NRM web mail! There is even a warning notice displayed when it's time to change (displayed when you try to login).
So, every now and then, especially near the 180 days limit, make sure to login to https://mail.nrm.se/owa and change your password there.
- Visit https://mail.nrm.se/owa
- Click on the gearwheel image in the upper right-hand corner
- Select "Options"
- In the left panel, select "General" -> "My Account"
- Close to the bottom of the second column, there is a link "Change your password"
- Change it (and remember the NRM IT rules!)
